Rectifying Reclusion
by gabester
Summary: After the loss of his aunt, Peter has never felt lonelier, especially after he realizes that he has no where else to go. Although Gwen will always be by his side, he still needs a little something else that is sure to fix his empty heart - a family. Superfamily. Tony Stark/Steve Rogers. Peter/Gwen.
1. Chapter 1: Black

_**Chapter One: Black**_

_"The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared." _  
― Lois Lowry, _The Giver_

* * *

My fault. All of it my fault. I couldn't believe just how stupid I had been. If I had only been a little faster...

I could have been there in time to save her.

My aunt.

My sweet, thoughtful, loving aunt. To whom I dedicated my life after the loss of my uncle. She was the one who convinced me to bring the love of my life back into my arms, to persevere with the burden of patrolling the city at night, protecting my loved ones as well as others, so as to not put them through the pain of a lost one. She never knew. I presumed that she suspected; heck, maybe she did know deep down in her heart. We never talked directly about it, and no matter how often I told her, she always stayed up until the early hours of the morning to make sure I arrived home safely. She always fell asleep though, lying uncomfortably on the couch, the news channel on the television covering a recent fight or robbery.

And I always brought her to her bed, gently put a warm blanket onto her frail body, and softly kissed her goodnight.

But on that one fateful night, that horrible night, our nightly routine was broken. She wasn't there when I got back.

My Aunt May.

* * *

Rain slowly dripped off the edge of my umbrella, hitting the fabric with a gentle patter in sync to the rhythm of the dull beat in my heart. I stood motionless, unsure of what to do except stare in silence as the coffin was slowly lowered into the ground.

There weren't many people who came.

There was Anna Watson, my aunt's best friend and next-door neighbor, accompanied with her niece, Mary Jane. Mary Jane was my age; however, we didn't know each other very well. The only interaction we have had with each other was an occasional weak smile and an almost imperceptible nod.

Of course, Gwen had attended the funeral, no doubt in order to keep me company. She was standing next to me, with her soft, warm hand clasped tight to mine, hers dainty, perfectly manicured, and intertwined with my shaking fingers.

She leaned her head onto my shoulder, causing our umbrellas to overlap and allowing some of the water to drip through.

"You know, it's not your fault," she murmured. Her usual bright green eyes appeared gray in the gloomy weather.

Moving my head closer to hers until our foreheads touched, I bit my lip in anxiety. "But I could have stopped him. I could have - no,_ should have _been there in time for her. I failed her. And Uncle Ben."

My sullen gaze met hers. Gwen gave me that knowing look and shook her head.

"You can't be expected to be everywhere at once, Peter. He tricked you, tricked everyone. You couldn't have stopped that explosion from happening."

She squeezed my hand reassuringly, but I didn't say anything, my mind numb.

Putting her hands into the pockets of her white pea coat, she leaned away from me, unintentionally causing me to feel even emptier and more alone than ever as her warm hand parted from mine.

I couldn't help but let my thoughts drift as to what would happen next. Being seventeen, I was not allowed to live on my own. I had no relatives or close family friends for me to stay with until my eighteenth birthday. That is, except Gwen.

Gwen had enthusiastically offered to let me stay with her family for as long as I needed. No matter how badly I wanted to accept her proffer, I couldn't bear the thought of being in that apartment, being constantly reminded of Captain Stacy's death. I blamed myself for their loss as well. I deserve to be alone, considering I had pushed Gwen away when she had needed me in her life the most. I knew Gwen would never do that to me, but I felt that it was something that I needed to do.

The Watsons had also generously opened their door for me as well, but I didn't want to burden them with my presence. They had enough bills to pay for without the nuisance of another teenager living in their house.

The only other option... the pure concept of it caused a pang of horror to erupt in my chest and my stomach to tighten in anxiety.

Adoption.

* * *

**Well, there's the very short beginning to my first multi-chapter fic - if this receives good comeback, I'll upload another chapter soon! If not, it may take a while, especially since I have almost nothing planned out for this story besides the fact that it's going to be eventual Superfamily (with the Avengers and such).**

**I had reread my other fic (the first one I wrote) which I posted sometime in July, and I cringed after finishing it. It was just planned out and organized poorly. I'm going to try to make this fic better by planning out chapters and everything.**

**Sorry it's so short; I was just too eager to upload it instead of waiting any longer!**


	2. Chapter 2: Blue

**Chapter Two: Blue**

_"Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form."_

_― Rumi_

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Steve asked Tony, his voice full of unease. "I mean, you were the one who was hesitant about doing any of this in the first place."

The couple, consisting of two of the world's most well known superheroes, was sitting on the couch in Stark Towers, about to take the next big step forward in their relationship. The two had been together ever since the incident with Loki and the Chitauri, only becoming married a year later. Another year had passed until Steve had felt that something was missing from their happy relationship: a child. The patriotic soldier proposed the idea to a reluctant Tony, only recently giving in to his husband's desire.

The agency had set them up with a young girl around four years old. All they had to do was confirm the placement transaction and bring the girl home into their loving arms. After the child lives with them for approximately half of a year, they will be able to finalize the adoption.

Steve looked away from the pile of papers sitting in front of them on the coffee table to glance at an unusually silent Tony, who was absentmindedly staring into the blank wall across the room.

"Tony," he said a little louder.

The man jumped in his seat, his reverie suddenly interrupted at the sound of Steve's stern voice. "Hm, sorry, Cap, what did you say?" He scrambled comically to put his hands behind in head in an attempt to appear relaxed, pretending that the exhibition of his anxiety didn't just happen.

Steve sighed. "This." He flapped the transaction form in front of his partner's face. Tony blinked.

"This single piece of paper holds the fate of our future in its writing," Steve went on. "After we sign it, the future of our complete family will be officially set in stone. I realize that you are not 100% with me on this, but it means alot to me. I need you to not blank out on me, okay?" He unsuccessfully attempted to catch Tony's gaze, who had reassumed a normal position and purposely looked anywhere except his husband's eyes.

They sat in silence for a moment.

Steve loved his husband, knew him so unbelievably well. He remembered when he had first brought up the subject of adoption to Tony, who had proceeded to stop whatever it was he was working on in the basement, turn around, and stare in utter surprise at his partner. They had talked, even argued excessively about the decision. Steve had begun to regret proposing such an idea. Then one day, Tony finally gave in. Steve never figured out what changed his mind, but he'd bet his money that Natasha was responsible. The usually quiet yet violent woman was known to occasionally show a soft side. Of course, she'd tie you up and send you on the nearest train to hell before she'd let you share that thought out loud.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, Steve was ready to get up and continue the conversation another time when he heard it.

"I'm sure."

Startled, the blonde haired soldier turned to look at the man seated next to him. A smile slowly began to run across his face. "What did you say?"

Tony's eyebrows were furrowed together in deep determination, causing the man to look serious, a rarity. However, the moment only existed briefly. He looked at Steve, cocked his head toward the side, and grinned that devilish grin of his.

"Let's fucking do this, shall we, Cap?"

* * *

_~A few days later~_

Steve sat hunched over dejectedly on the chair, staring at the empty child-sized bed in front of him.

Everything had happened so quickly. Too quickly for him to completely comprehend. He didn't remember much, despite the fact that only an hour had passed; everything had started to become fuzzy, his mind clouded by disappointment and shock. But what he could recall appeared impossibly clear in his mind. He remembered the phone call. Every exact word uttered by the woman on the other line, delivering the bad news. He remembered Tony slamming the door on his way out. Knowing Tony exceptionally well, Steve assumed he probably went to get drunk at a club or something.

_"Hello, is this Mr. Rogers-Stark? My name is Avery and I'm with the adoption agency." _

_"Yes." Steve was puzzled. Tony had told him that they already called to confirm the delivery of their paperwork. "May I ask why you're calling, ma'am?"_

Steve sighed and put his head in his hands.

"Steve."

The soldier slowly turned his head to look at the woman in the door. After recognizing the slim figure through his blurred vision, he looked away to gaze silently on the pink carpeted floor.

_"I apologize for the abruptness of this news, but the child's mother refused to sign the transaction papers. She cancelled the entire adoption. However, there is good news."_

Steve shut his eyes. "I'm fi-"

"No," Natasha cut off, her voice hard as steel. "Don't you _dare_pull that crap on me, Rogers. It won't work." Her voice softened. "I heard what happened with the girl. I just came by to see if you were okay." She walked across the room and sat on the bed.

Steve scoffed. "I'm anything _but_ okay. I get it, she wanted her kid back, but we were so prepared, so ready, so..." He cleared his dry throat. "It was all set in stone. Tony and I were supposed to travel to Vietnam on Tuesday. Then from out of _nowhere_, the mother decided that she didn't want to let her go even though she probably can't afford to feed the poor girl in the first place. So everything was cancelled." He clenched his fists.

Natasha stayed silent.

"The bright side is that they're assigning us with another kid."

The red-haired woman raised an eyebrow. "Already? How did they find another little kid so quickly?"

"Teenager," Steve corrected.

Natasha's expression didn't give away her surprise, but the soldier could tell that the news shocked her nonetheless. "A teenager? They're replacing your adoption of a four year-old Vietnamese girl with a _teenager_? How old?"

"Seventeen. They just want us to be his official guardians until he becomes an adult in ten months. He actually lives here in the city. Poor kid - lost his parents at six in a plane crash, uncle was shot a few months ago, and just recently his aunt in that fight between Spider-man and the Lizard."

Natasha whistled. "Damn. Wish we could have been there to help the newbie fight that thing off. Loki teaming up with the frost giants and attacking Asgard, the _mudak_," she cursed.

She stood up and walked toward the door before pausing halfway in the doorway. The red-haired agent slightly turned to look at Steve. "What's the kid's name?"

The soldier turned away from her and looked outside the window at the cityscape, car lights in the distance blazing and horns blaring.

"His name is Peter Parker."

* * *

**Thought I should mention right here and now that I'm a slow writer, hence the late update and another short chapter. I apologize in advance. I'll try to make the next chapter much longer.**

**Also I changed my pen name in case you forgot who I was.**

**P.S. - mudak means bastard in Russian**


	3. Chapter 3: Red and Gold

**I am _so_ sorry for the long wait. I'm a very slow writer, and schoolwork and AP exams have just caused me to write even slower. I know the chapter is short, but I felt bad about making you guys wait, so here's chapter three in the meantime!**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Red and Gold**

"_Loneliness leads to nothing good, only detachment. And sometimes the people who most need to reach out are the people least capable of it."_

― Joss Whedon

Cleaning out the house was the worst part. Family photos, clothes, heck, even the freaking _kitchen utensils_ were a harsh reminder of just how alone I was now. It probably should have only taken a week or so to clear everything out, especially with the help of the Watsons, but sometimes I couldn't help but just sit alone in one of the rooms, ranging anywhere from minutes to hours, happy memory after happy memory just flashing before my eyes in synchronization with the dull _tick tock_ of the clock on the nearby wall.

Today was the day I was supposed to meet my new family. They've told me absolutely nothing about my new parents except that they were both male; not that it would even bother me in the first place. The nice social worker had just given me this knowing smile and told me that it was a surprise. I just scoffed with annoyance in reply.

Why the hell I would even be _remotely_ surprised about some random homosexual couple living in Manhattan beats me.

I'm just glad I wasn't sent off to some horrible foster home. The agency had simply told me that my case was _special_ when I had brought up the subject last week. I spent the next couple of nights lying awake on the Watsons' living room couch, wondering why I was an exception.

I decided it was probably because my aunt was killed by some crazy drugged-up psychopath.

It was early in the morning, and I had just finished off my usual early bird patrol in the city when I arrived at my house for the last time. Dressed in regular clothes, I slowly walked into the living room, the blank walls saying nothing, staring back at me.

The scratches on the wall, the chips of old paint, the faded floral wallpaper curled slightly at the corners, ripe with age, all gone. Even the gray skid marks from when I had accidentally dragged the wheels of my skateboard against the wall, dents where the board had slammed into. Every small little tick that made this house pure _Parker_ had been cleaned and refurbished.

Standing in the center of the room, I closed my eyes, wanting to pretend for one last time.

The sound of pots and pans clanging and ringing drifted gradually into the room, the scent of tomato sauce following soon after. Smiling faintly, I softly whispered, "Spaghetti and meatballs. Since when did you not like spaghetti and meatballs?"

The only reply was the uncontrollable sob that echoed throughout the entire house, empty and void of life.

* * *

Steve sat on the edge of the couch, anxiety gripping at his heart and forcing him to fidget uncomfortably. Tony was busying himself by pacing back and forth in the large living room, one hand clenched behind his back, the other rushing up to his face to scratch at his chin only to move back in front of his eyes to check the time on his watch. Just when Steve thought he couldn't wait any longer, Jarvis' voice soon filled the room, causing him to immediately jump to his feet in surprise.

"_Sir, Miss Avery Middleton has just arrived at the building with Peter Parker. Shall I let them in?" _

They turned to stare at each other for a brief moment, eyes wide and sparkling with excitement. "Of _course_, let them in!" Tony practically yelled, rushing toward the door.

Steve, breathing deeply, hesitated slightly before following his husband, hands smoothing down his perfectly ironed shirt and running fingers through his hair in an attempt to look unflustered.

He managed to reach Tony just has he was opening the door, his trademark smirk plastered on his face when he saw the blindfold on the kid's face, who stood there with obvious discomfort and scorn at the cloth tied around his eyes.

Steve raised an eyebrow in question at Avery, who simply mouthed the response, "He doesn't know." Nodding, he took the teen's hand and led him into the living room, social worker and husband close behind him. Reaching towards the knot, Steve swiftly untied it, then stood next to Tony as the exasperated teen grabbed the blindfold and ripped it from his face, blinking rapidly as his vision cleared.

When his eyes landing on the couple in front of him, he just stood there, staring in total and utter shock, mouth agape.

"Holy _shit_."


End file.
